Singles Volume 11B:1971
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16.25 ˝ 5 2 . 8.125 8.125 THE COMPLETE MOTOWN SINGLES VOLUME 11B:1971 .812 .812 PAGE 1 CUSTOMER Title Motown Singles Vol. 11B - 1971 = SCORE Design No. = BLEED Configuration: UME Hip O Select = TRIM Flat Size 16.5 X 7.0 = SAFE AREA Note: Keep live copy 1/8” minimum from all trims & fold areas Bleed 1/8” Minimum 16.25 ˝ 5 2 . 8.125 8.125 THE COMPLETE MOTOWN JUST MY IMAGINATION BY SCOTT REGAN 4 REMEMBER HOW YOU GOT WHERE YOU ARE SINGLES BY DR. ANDREW FLORY 12 DISC 61 20 DISC 62 34 VOLUME 11B:1971 DISC 63 52 DISC 64 72 DISC 65 90 THE INDEXES 108 2 TH E C O M P LE TE M OTO W N S I N G LE S V O LU M E 11B: 1971 3 .812 .812 PAGE 2 PAGE 3 CUSTOMER Title Motown Singles Vol. 11B - 1971 = SCORE Design No. = BLEED Configuration: UME Hip O Select = TRIM Flat Size 16.5 X 7.0 = SAFE AREA Note: Keep live copy 1/8” minimum from all trims & fold areas Bleed 1/8” Minimum 16.25 ˝ 5 2 . 8.125 8.125 REMEMBER HOW YOU GOT WHERE YOU ARE In 1968, the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders presented a much- anticipated study of the declining inner cities of America. As a reaction to the series of riots that had plagued various urban centers including Detroit, Los Angeles and Newark in the years prior, this famous “Kerner Report” found that white racism was one of the primary causes of the exploding tension in black neighborhoods. The fact that President The Temptations Johnson had even commissioned the report was a sign of how dire the racial situation in America’s cities had become. More than three years later, in September 1971, a group called the National Urban Coalition released an update on the findings of the Kerner Report. The results were chilling. With Detroit as one of the six cities specifically under investigation, the Coalition found that none of the original suggestions from the Kerner Commission had been Iimplemented. Furthermore, the report predicted, “if this trend continues at its present rate—and if racism continues—most cities by 1980 will be predominately black and brown, and totally bankrupt.” 12 .812 .812 PAGE 12 PAGE 13 CUSTOMER Title Motown Singles Vol. 11B - 1971 = SCORE Design No. = BLEED Configuration: UME Hip O Select = TRIM Flat Size 16.5 X 7.0 = SAFE AREA Note: Keep live copy 1/8” minimum from all trims & fold areas Bleed 1/8” Minimum 16.25 ˝ 5 2 . 8.125 8.125 In line with these findings, the neighborhood surrounding 2648 West Grand Boulevard Perhaps the most fascinating recycling was the two-part “MacArthur Park” single by was starting to take a toll on those who lived and worked in the Motor City. Furthermore, the Four Tops. While it did not sell exceptionally well, their version of Richard Harris’s it was clear that the social atmosphere was not the only thing that had changed in Detroit. 1968 hit encapsulated Motown’s struggles with both stylistic and geographic identity. The music coming out of Motown was much different than it had been during the sixties. Recorded three years earlier in November 1968, this track originally served as filler on Optimistic songs about young love anchored by the “Motown Beat” were few and far between. the 1969 album Four Tops Now! (In keeping with the re-use theme, the entire album was The plug-side hits that did sound like old Motown were now mostly being produced in Los re-released in 1971 with new cover art as Angeles. In this light, there was irony dripping from the opening line of the Temptations’ MacArthur Park.) Clocking in at about six October 1971 release “Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are),” when Dennis minutes, the two parts of this extended Edwards sang “don’t change your style now that you’ve reached the top.” dramatic piece were unlike anything Motown Motown’s biggest hits of late 1971 were largely in a stylistic gray zone between The had ever released as a single, and certainly Sound Of Young America and the mature Los Angeles sound to follow from artists like anathema to those who cherished the dance- Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross. The struggle to find a new direction, and oriented Motown of the past. It was also a song the beginning of a new era of self-produced artists, had led to a lack of fresh material. that romanticized Motown’s soon-to-be home Accordingly, during this transitional period there was a notable dependence on older, of Los Angeles. reworked songs. This type of recycling had always been a part of the Motown business Surprisingly, the Tops’ “MacArthur Park” model, but it started to become much more apparent in late 1971 when fewer newly did not get a U.K. single release. Instead, the composed songs appeared on the upper reaches of the record charts. group recorded “A Simple Game,” written by Eddie Kendricks, the Temptations, the Undisputed Truth and the Originals each had Mike Pinder of the Moody Blues (who backed A-sides plucked from the Jobete catalog. In September the Elgins’ 1966 classic “Heaven them on the record) and produced by Tony Must Have Sent You” was re-released in the U.K. to great success, and subsequently in the Clarke. In September 1971 Tamla Motown U.S. as well, but without similar results. One of Motown’s two Christmas singles was Stevie released it as a single in the U.K. and scored Wonder’s “What Christmas Means To Me,” which he had recorded four years earlier. This a massive hit. This marked a first, as the label would be the last Wonder record before Music Of My Mind hit the shelves in early 1972. had made a practice of picking U.S. album tracks and old 45s and turning them into hits in the U.K., but never before had it recorded a Motown act especially for the British market. Meanwhile, Motown waited until 1972 to release “A Simple Game” in the United States, where it peaked at No. 34 on the Billboard Best-Selling Soul Singles chart and barely broke into the Hot 100, illustrating how far British and American attitudes toward Motown had diverged by this time. Similarly, in summer 1971 British disc jockey Tony Blackburn obsessively began to spin “I’m Still Waiting,” an earlier album track by Diana Ross. Released as a single in the U.K., it spent four weeks at the national No. 1 spot. When finally released as a single in the U.S., “Waiting” did not repeat its U.K. success in the way that “The Tears Of A Clown” by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles topped the charts in both countries the year before. 14 TH E C O M P LE TE M OTO W N S I N G LE S V O LU M E 11B: 1971 15 .812 .812 PAGE 14 PAGE 15 CUSTOMER Title Motown Singles Vol. 11B - 1971 = SCORE Design No. = BLEED Configuration: UME Hip O Select = TRIM Flat Size 16.5 X 7.0 = SAFE AREA Note: Keep live copy 1/8” minimum from all trims & fold areas Bleed 1/8” Minimum 16.25 ˝ 5 2 . 8.125 8.125 The divergence was equally marked in 1971 by the London publication of the first the Miracles were readying Smokey Robinson’s departure from the group after a series of serious critical appreciation of the company and its music, Motown & The Arrival of Black mediocre releases. And the Supremes, who led the Motown cavalcade in 1964, quietly scored Music by David Morse, published by the tiny but prestigious Studio Vista imprint. Always the group’s last Top 20 hit with “Floy Joy.” lagging in appreciation of its black music, the United States would not see its own book- As the Supremes saw the slow commercial decline of their latest incarnation, Motown length study of Motown until the end of the decade. The attention in magazines was also also closed the chapter on a lingering issue tied to the original group. In February 1971, greater in Britain, notably in the candid interviews with Motown artists that appeared Florence Ballard, feeling she had been ousted from the group in 1967 through what was in almost every issue of the bi-monthly magazine Blues & Soul. Coverage in American termed “fraud and conspiracy,” had sued Berry magazines like Crawdaddy! and Creem, had been sporadic. Rolling Stone had named the Gordy and the company for more than $8 million. Jackson 5 “Group of the Year” at the end of 1970, and followed with a cover story on Michigan’s Wayne County Court ruled against her G. C. Cameron Michael Jackson in April 1971. In May it published a lengthy article about the 5-LP box set in October 1971. The messy split with Ballard, The Motown Story that included an in-depth review each from Vince Aletti and Jon Landau. coupled with the exit of Paul Williams from the By mid-1971 Motown releases began to appear with regularity in the rock press. By the end Temptations, illustrated the extent to which of the year Rolling Stone was in preparation for its first formal interview piece, “A Visit departures by artists foundational to the company’s With Marvin Gaye.” success were becoming an unfortunate part of In accordance with the company’s increasing focus on the West Coast, Motown’s stake business as usual at Motown.